ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla., Oct. 25, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) held ceremonies earlier this week to celebrate the delivery of the first new production E-2C Hawkeye 2000 airborne early warning and control aircraft to the U.S. Navy. It is the first of 21 planes being built for the Navy under a $1.4 billion multiyear contract. Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems is also building Hawkeye 2000 E-2Cs for France and Taiwan under the same contract.
Several hundred persons attended the ceremony, including Northrop Grumman employees, members of the Department of Defense, and federal, state and local government officials. "The Hawkeye 2000 provides our Navy customer with the advanced technology it needs to deal with evolving threats," said Ralph Crosby, president of Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, during the ceremonies in Bethpage, N.Y., facility where the Hawkeye 2000 was designed. "We at Northrop Grumman are proud to be part of the Navy team on the Hawkeye and Hawkeye 2000. It takes a team and this team has certainly produced."
"This aircraft is arriving not a day too soon," said Rear Admiral Phillip M. Balisle, director, Surface Warfare. "The Hawkeye 2000 will be, for the next several years, the single most important platform in our Navy's warfare transformation."
Hawkeye 2000 is the fifth generation of the E-2C, which the Navy and six foreign nations have flown since 1973. The Hawkeye 2000 boasts a powerful commercial-off-the-shelf mission computer and new advanced control indicator set workstations (the same workstation systems used on the Navy's Aegis cruisers and destroyers, ballistic missile submarines and other vessels). It also features the Navy's Cooperative Engagement System and an integrated satellite communications system. These improvements tremendously increase the Navy's ability to monitor and control theater-of-operations activities from the ocean surface to the skies and across the seashore.
Initial operational capability will occur for the U.S. Navy in 2004.
Among the Hawkeye's international users, Egypt and Japan are upgrading their fleets to the Hawkeye 2000 configuration and other nations are considering upgrade programs.
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems, headquartered in Dallas, Tex., is a premier aerospace systems integration enterprise. Integrated Systems has the capabilities to design, develop, integrate, produce and support complete systems, as well as airframe subsystems, for airborne surveillance and battle management aircraft, early warning aircraft, airborne electronic warfare aircraft and air combat aircraft.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $15 billion, global aerospace and defense company with its worldwide headquarters in Los Angeles. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in defense and commercial electronics, systems integration, information technology and non-nuclear shipbuilding and systems. With 80,000 employees and operations in 44 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.